eveloping Hong Kong as a gateway to trade with China was high on the agenda as the Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, Henry Tang, met with senior Korean government officials yesterday, as part of his six-day tour of Japan and South Korea.
Tang spoke to reporters shortly before meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Lee Hun-jae, and Minister of Commerce, Industry & Energy Lee Hee-beom.
He said that a key theme of the meeting would be the importance of Korea's commercial cooperation with Hong Kong and how it can serve as a catalyst to Korea's future business performance in China.
Under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement signed between the Hong Kong and China in 2003, Hong Kong's market access to China will go beyond World Trade Organization guidelines.
"We are going to talk about how to further advance the cooperation between Hong Kong and Korea, so that more Korean companies can make use Hong Kong as a gateway to China," said Tang.
"You get the best of both worlds. You get protection of the legal system, the commercial system of Hong Kong, and access to the market."
Tang pointed to the success of Japanese penetration in the Chinese market to illustrate the benefits of further ties. China accounted for 20.1 percent of Japan's total trade last year, which placed it just in front of the United States as Japan's major trading partner.
"Japan's made more use of the CEPA (than Korea) for several reasons," said Tang. "One of them is a historical reason, because Japan has a bigger presence in Hong Kong and a longer presence than Korea."
"There are many Korean brand-names and many well known products on the mainland, whether it's LG or Samsung," he said. "The potential is there."
- The Korea Herald
- Feb. 2, 2005
- By Jonathan Dart
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